CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ (CLO-002)Cloud ConceptsMedium
A cloud customer is implementing a strategy to optimize costs for storing large amounts of infrequently accessed data that needs to be retained for compliance reasons for several years. The data can tolerate retrieval times of several hours. Which storage class should they choose?
- ABlock Storage
- BArchive Storage
- CInfrequent Access Object Storage
- DStandard Object Storage
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Archive Storage
Archive storage is specifically designed for long-term retention of data that is accessed very infrequently. It offers the lowest storage costs but typically has higher retrieval costs and longer retrieval times, often measured in hours, which aligns with the requirement for compliance data that can tolerate long retrieval times.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Block Storage is for high-performance, frequently accessed data attached to compute instances and is not suitable for cost-optimized, infrequently accessed data.
- C. Infrequent Access Object Storage is for data accessed less frequently than standard, but still more often than archive, and typically has retrieval times in minutes, not hours.
- D. Standard Object Storage is for frequently accessed data and would be too expensive for infrequently accessed, long-term compliance data.
Archive Storage
A cloud storage class optimized for extremely low-cost storage of data that is rarely accessed and can tolerate retrieval times ranging from minutes to hours. Ideal for long-term backups and compliance data.
- Lowest per-GB storage cost.
- Highest retrieval costs.
- Longest retrieval times (hours).
Memory trick: STANDARD INFREQUENT ARCHIVES save money.